Sara vows to work without 2024 funds, accuses critics of conspiracy

Vice President Sara Duterte is prepared to work regardless of budget constraints, responding to the removal of her confidential funds request for 2024 by claiming she doesn't care about money and will get the job done anyway. She accused Speaker Martin Romualdez and House committee appropriations chairman Zaldy Co of meddling in the DepEd's 2023 budget when she was education secretary, a claim denied by Co.

Duterte also alleged that her staunch critic ACT Teachers Representative France Castro and his bloc were conspiring with Romualdez to bring her down. She claimed they were behind the removal of her confidential funds request for 2024 alongside four other agencies including DepEd then under Duterte, Department of Information and Communications Technology, Department of Agriculture, and Department of Foreign Affairs.

In response to these claims, Makabayan bloc members Gabriela Representative Arlene Brosas and Kabataan Representative Raoul Manuel dismissed Duterte's allegation that they conspired with Romualdez.